Fellow residents of Great Neck, my name is Grant Toch and I am declaring my intention to run for trustee of the Board of Education for the Great Neck School District.
My wife Nicole and I have lived in Great Neck for the past 15 years, raising our three daughters – ages 10, 13, and 17 – and participating consistently in our community. It is my belief that Great Neck Public Schools continue to deliver to our daughters an excellent public-school education, similar to the experience I had growing up on Long Island. If elected, this perspective would be a refreshing and much needed one as I alone would have three times as many children currently attending the Great Neck School District as the entire Board of Education combined.
Our school system plays a critical role within our community and the value it provides to our students and residents could not be overstated. As a community, we need to continuously enhance our public schools’ offerings, reputation and stature.
I promise to lead the effort of activating a new generation of parent leadership and engagement on the school board and seek to drive innovation and excellence in our classrooms and beyond. I make this promise with a commitment to ensuring district-wide transparency; enhanced partnerships between parents, teachers, administrators, and local business leaders; and the capacity and ability to promote financial responsibility and appropriate fiscal planning for the district’s future. My promise is supported by a now 13-year record of encouraging the Board of Education to solve some of the most pressing issues facing this district.
I am passionately committed to the Great Neck community and to our schools. For the past 13 years I have volunteered on the United Parent-Teacher Council where I have been a member and chairperson of the budget committee, a member of the legislative committee, and served on its executive board for six years. For two years I also served and actively participated as a member on the now-defunct Board of Education Financial Advisory Committee.
Elsewhere in the community, I am a long-serving parent leader for youth sports teams, a volunteer on the Great Neck Estates Zoning Board of Appeals, and serve as a member of the board and the finance committee for Temple Beth-El (where I lead some of the synagogue’s efforts to bring together the diverse communities that live within our peninsula through community service-oriented events).
Trained as a tax lawyer, I left the practice of law and entered into finance nearly 20 years ago. My expertise is in understanding and investing in community banks and government entities. In this capacity, I have come to further value the importance of local businesses and government institutions and the impact they have on the families and communities they support. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a law degree from The George Washington University and an MBA from Columbia University.
I believe that I represent what Great Neck needs most on the Board of Education. I ask that you support my candidacy so that I can help enhance and maximize the opportunities that are provided to all of our children; ensure the resources required by our teachers are adequately met; and provide the necessary oversight required so the school district can thoughtfully and transparently address its financial responsibilities and plans for its future. As an active parent in this community, I am committed to the long-term success of the Great Neck Public School District.
Grant Toch
Great Neck
